688  
FXUS65 KBYZ 290754  
AFDBYZ  
 
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION  
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT  
154 AM MDT FRI AUG 29 2025  
   
KEY MESSAGES
 
 
- SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE ACROSS THE REGION  
THROUGH SATURDAY, WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE. GREATEST  
POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAIN WILL BE EAST OF THE WESTERN FOOTHILLS.  
 
- THERE IS A LOW RISK OF FLASH FLOODING IN AND NEAR AREA BURN  
SCARS TODAY.  
 
- WARMER AND DRY SUNDAY AND MONDAY.  
 
- TRENDING COOLER AND MAINLY DRY TUESDAY INTO THURSDAY.  
 

 
   
DISCUSSION
 
 
THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT...  
 
A COUPLE MID LEVEL CIRCULATIONS NOTED ON SATELLITE. ONE IS IN  
NORTH CENTRAL MT AND THE OTHER IN THE FAR NE CORNER OF WY, THE  
LATTER OF WHICH IS PRODUCING AN AREA OF SHOWERS IN SOUTHEAST MT.  
SCATTERED LIGHT SHOWERS AND SPRINKLES EXIST ELSEWHERE (STRONGER  
FORCING HAS SHIFTED NORTH AND EAST). WE REMAIN IN A REGION OF  
ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PRECIPITABLE WATERS AND LIGHT WINDS ALOFT, SO  
ALL ACTIVITY IS EVOLVING SLOWLY AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO.  
ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE WILL BEGIN TO DECREASE SLOWLY TODAY AS W-NW  
WINDS DEVELOP OVER THE WEST HALF OF OUR FORECAST AREA. GIVEN THIS,  
GREATEST POTENTIAL FOR SHOWERS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LOCALLY HEAVY  
RAIN TODAY WILL SHIFT EAST OF THE WESTERN FOOTHILLS. WILL ALSO  
NEED TO WATCH FOR A NW-SE ORIENTED CONVERGENT AXIS FROM ROUGHLY  
WHEATLAND TO CARTER COUNTIES, WHICH COULD BE A FOCUS OF HEAVIER  
SHOWERS AS WELL WHEN WE GET TO THE PEAK HEATING HOURS. THERE WILL  
OF COURSE BE SOME EMBEDDED T-STORMS BUT THEY SHOULD REMAIN WEAK  
AND CHAOTIC. ISOLATED (WEST) TO SCATTERED (CENTRAL & EAST) SHOWERS  
WILL CONTINUE THRU TONIGHT.  
 
THE WEST WILL SEE CONTINUED DRYING SATURDAY AS AN UPPER LEVEL  
RIDGE BEGINS TO EXERT ITSELF OVER THE WEST HALF OF THE STATE.  
THUS, GREATEST CHANCES OF WETTING RAIN WILL BE OVER THE EAST AND  
PERHAPS SOUTHERN UPSLOPE AREAS AS NW WINDS DEEPEN A BIT. THAT  
SAID, THERE SHOULD BE ENOUGH BOUNDARY LAYER MOISTURE TO POP SOME  
DIURNAL SHOWERS EVEN IN OUR WEST. ONCE AGAIN, ANY AFTERNOON AND  
EARLY EVENING T-STORMS WILL REMAIN NON-SEVERE AS BULK SHEAR  
REMAINS AT 15 KNOTS OR LESS. MIXED DEW POINTS MAY FALL TO AS LOW  
AS THE LOWER 40S ALONG THE WESTERN FOOTHILLS TOMORROW AFTERNOON, A  
SIGN OF CHANGES COMING. LOOK FOR MORE WIDESPREAD DRYING SATURDAY  
NIGHT.  
 
TEMPS WILL REMAIN JUST A BIT COOLER THAN NORMAL THE NEXT TWO DAYS,  
WITH HIGHS IN THE MID 70S TO LOWER 80S. FINALLY, WITH A BETTER  
CHANCE OF PARTIAL CLEARING, WE COULD SEE LOCALIZED FOG LATE  
TONIGHT AND EARLY SATURDAY. SOMETHING TO MONITOR.  
 
JKL  
 
SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY...  
 
SUNDAY AND MONDAY CONTINUE TO LOOK WARM AND DRY AS THE AMPLIFIED  
RIDGE OVER THE WEST COAST NUDGES INTO THE AREA, PUSHING HIGHS INTO  
THE MID TO UPPER 80S. THE CHANGE THIS FORECAST RUN IS THAT  
THE CANADIAN COLD FRONT ADVERTISED FOR EARLY WEDNESDAY LOOKS TO  
ARRIVE SOONER, POSSIBLY AS EARLY AS TUESDAY MORNING. THE NBM  
REASONABLE TEMPERATURE RANGE SPREAD FOR BILLINGS ON TUESDAY  
AFTERNOON IS NOW 14 DEGREES (72 TO 86 DEG) SHOWING THAT SOME BUT  
NOT ALL MODEL ITERATIONS ARE ON BOARD WITH THE EARLY FRONTAL  
ARRIVAL. THAT SAID THE SPREAD FOR TUESDAY IN PREVIOUS RUNS WAS  
SMALL AND IN THE MID TO UPPER 80S SO THIS IS A SIGNIFICANT SHIFT  
TO THE COLDER SIDE.  
 
TEMPERATURES WEDNESDAY CONTINUE TO TREND COOLER IN THE NBM  
ENSEMBLES WITH HIGHS ADVERTISED FROM THE UPPER 60S EAST TO THE  
UPPER 70S IN THE WEST. HOWEVER, THERE IS STILL A GOOD DEAL OF  
UNCERTAINTY WITH HOW COOL THIS SYSTEM WILL BE OVER OUR AREA. A  
REASONABLE RANGE FROM 64 TO 78 DEGREES EXISTS FOR HIGHS IN  
BILLINGS FOR EXAMPLE. THIS IS A BROAD SPREAD BUT LOOKING CLOSER  
THE MEDIAN IS SITTING AT 68 DEGREES, SO SOME VERY WARM OUTLIER  
ENSEMBLE MEMBERS ARE SKEWING THE RANGE ON THE HIGH SIDE AND MORE  
MEMBERS ARE CLUSTERED IN THE 60S. THE DETERMINISTIC NBM, WHICH  
POPULATES THE GRIDDED FORECAST, IS SHOWING 75 DEGREES FOR BILLINGS  
WEDNESDAY, WELL ABOVE THE ENSEMBLE MEDIAN. THINKING THIS IS  
MAINLY DUE TO A LATENCY BIAS BUILT INTO THE DETERMINISTIC NBM AND  
THAT THIS WARM BIAS WILL DECREASE AS THE FORECAST MOVES FORWARD,  
IF CURRENT MODEL TRENDS CONTINUE. MODEST WARMING IS EXPECTED ON  
THURSDAY WITH 70S TO LOWER 80S FORECAST. FOR REFERENCE, NORMAL  
HIGHS FOR THE END OF AUGUST ARE IN THE LOWER 80S.  
 
PRECIPITATION POTENTIAL WITH THIS SYSTEM IS MODEST TO LOW AS  
PACIFIC MOISTURE IS CUTOFF BY THE WESTERN RIDGE AND THE NORTHERLY  
LOW LEVEL WINDS BLOCK PLAINS MOISTURE FROM MAKING IT INTO OUR  
AREA. CHAMBERS  
 

 
   
AVIATION
 
 
MONSOONAL MOISTURE WILL CONTINUE OVER THE AREA THROUGH TONIGHT.  
SCATTERED WEAK SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE  
OVERNIGHT TONIGHT INTO THE MORNING HOURS. SCATTERED AFTERNOON  
CONVECTION WILL BE STRONGER WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE.  
MVFR CONDITIONS WILL BE POSSIBLE NEAR PRECIPITATION AREAS MAINLY  
DUE TO POOR VISIBILITIES. OVERNIGHT AND EARLY MORNING PATCHY FOG  
IS POSSIBLE WITH LOCAL IFR OR LOWER CONDITIONS POSSIBLE. OTHERWISE  
VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL WITH PERSISTENT MID LEVEL CEILINGS IN  
PLACE. CHAMBERS  
 

 
   
PRELIMINARY POINT TEMP/POPS
 
 
TDY SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU  
-------------------------------------------------------  
BIL 079 057/081 055/088 057/088 058/083 053/078 050/081  
5/T 32/T 00/U 00/U 01/B 21/U 00/U  
LVM 078 047/080 048/085 049/086 050/083 047/080 046/082  
2/T 22/W 00/U 00/U 01/U 11/U 10/B  
HDN 079 055/079 052/087 053/088 054/083 050/078 047/081  
6/T 43/T 10/U 00/U 01/B 21/B 00/U  
MLS 079 059/078 056/086 055/086 056/081 050/073 046/078  
4/T 43/T 10/U 00/U 11/B 21/U 00/U  
4BQ 073 057/074 053/081 055/084 057/081 050/072 047/075  
5/T 54/T 20/U 00/U 01/B 21/B 10/U  
BHK 077 054/075 052/081 053/084 053/078 044/069 042/075  
2/T 34/T 11/U 00/U 11/B 21/B 00/U  
SHR 076 050/076 048/083 050/084 051/083 048/075 044/078  
7/T 45/T 11/U 00/U 01/U 22/W 10/U  
 

 
   
BYZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
 
 
MT...NONE.  
WY...NONE.  
 

 
 

 
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